A federal court jury in Chattanooga decided today that a local construction company did not violate a man's civil rights and retaliate against him by firing him after he talked to the media.
Chad Byers had sued his former employer, J.M. Hanner Construction, for the alleged violations related to what his attorney characterized as a racially charged work site at the BlueCross BlueShield downtown construction site in the summer of 2008.
Witnesses testified Monday and today that racial slurs and drawings were on portable toilet walls. Three nooses were found at the site on different days, according to testimony.
Byers, who is black, claimed he was fired after his boss, Jerry Hanner, who also is black, told him not to talk with the media shortly after the first noose was found and some workers began getting sick on the job.
Hanner testified that Byers had been suspended for two days for using profanity and that, during Byers' two months on the job, he repeatedly had not followed instructions.
For complete details, see tomorrow's Chattanooga Times Free Press.